transference

Projection: how you create your world

Projection is one of the classic psychological defence mechanisms described by Sigmund Freud in psychoanalysis.[1] According to Freud, a defence mechanism, such as projection, is used for two primary reasons. Firstly, to defend anxiety. The subject at risk of experiencing overwhelming anxiety uses a psychological defence mechanism to establish an internal (intrapsychic) firewall that prevents her conscious ego being flooded by the anxiety inducing content. The second is to maintain the subject’s self-schema or sense of identity. Anything...

A tool to identify your transference: understanding your unconscious communication in relationships

Transference- countertransference, Lacan, Jung Transference as a technical term in depth psychology describes the process whereby unconscious content is shared between patient (analysand) and analyst in the context of their therapeutic relationship (analysis). Although used to refer to this specific relationship dynamic in analysis, transference is a very real dimension of all social interaction, it is by no means limited to the analytical couple (analyst and analysand). This is the third in a series of three short articles I have written on...

Reeva and Oscar: A Mythological Perspective from Jung

This post is an application of Jungian theory to offer an alternative way of understanding the tragic event of Reeva Steenkamp’s death at the hands of Oscar Pistorius. It is a continuation of the post A bullet in the chamber: a Jungian perspective on a murderous gun complex Reeva painted these pictures when she was 14, they've been in the house for a long time now, but we never really realized what they were about. here is a man standing...

Counter-transference:the Obscene Other

In my last post Transference: the Saviour the Madonna and the Slut, I dealt with the issue of transference and some of the ways this affects our lives and our relationships. Now I want us to consider the flipside of that coin, counter-transference. Simply, counter-transference is what happens when someone transfers onto you and you react to their transference. This reaction can take two typical forms: You transfer your unconscious contents onto them in response to their transference, which means...

Transference:the Saviour, the Madonna and the Slut

At the very heart of psychoanalysis is the issue of transference- counter transference. Transference is a technical term describing a somewhat mysterious phenomenon that occurs when the patient 'transfers' their relationship with one or both of their parents onto the psychoanalyst. We are dealing with this topic in the November Foundation Module, and I want to share just a little about it with you. When we say they 'transfer' this relationship, what is meant is that, this is done unconsciously. On...

A Guide to The Secret Life of Complexes

Do you ever behave in a manner which leaves you wondering what the hell you were thinking? Something came over you? You were possessed? You are not the master of your own house. You must have had that experience where the wrong thing pops out of your mouth and you are so embarrassed that you wish the earth would open up and swallow you. Or you lose it and scream like a banshee at someone. Or you are confronted with a dilemma...

Beware, the Facebook “Friend”.

An ex- lover of mine contacted me on Facebook. We had a love affair when I was 20. He was so beautiful! It turned out that he stays in the same suburb as me and asked me to meet for coffee. So I mentioned to Stephen that my former lover wants to have coffee… 'What are you going to do?' He asked, suspiciously. I thought I would tease him and raised one eyebrow . 'No, I am not comfortable with that!' he proclaimed. 'Don't you...